Sound and audio have never been my strong points in terms of media production. I can edit video to music other people have recorded fairly well, but I struggle when it comes to recording my own audio. However, this week’s reading have helped me to start thinking about sound in a new way that may make it easier for me to produce more interesting audio tracks.

In Theo Van Leeuwen’s “Perspective”, Leeuwen explains that sound, much image, has three ‘zones’. He calls these the close, middle and far distance, which are essentially the equivalent of the foreground, mid-ground and background in photography and film. Each zone works to give the audience perspective, and help them understand where they are in the scene. For example, certain sounds may be amplified to emphasise the important of an element in the scene to a certain character.

I think I’ll try to use these ‘three zone’ approach to think about sound (particularly in film) in future, as the more example I come across of the system in practice, the better my understanding will become.